Here, I wrote this up a long time ago, and it sounds like you need a Middle East history lesson.Iraq, we started the war it is our problem to take responsibility and finish it. A time line is just giving our opposition a date they have to survive to until they can do what ever they want. At the same time what is considered a victory in Iraq?
The Middle East is a relatively unknown part of the world for Americans, and with the increasing focus being placed on the region, a look into its culture and past experiences with Western Imperialism is important. The U.S is isolated from the Middle East, culturally, physically, and educationally.
To understand the Middle Eastern response to Western Imperialism, one of the earliest examples of violent imperialism in the Middle East is Napoleon's ventures into Egypt. Napoleon, then a General, was a military genius. At the time, the English and the French were locked in a clash for supremacy. The English had a formidable navy, that was hugely superior to the French navy, but the French had a large, experienced land army.
Napoleon landed in Egypt with his troops, and started spreading leaflets, written in Arabic, proclaiming that he planned to liberate the Egyptians and give the fruits of the land to the people. The French forces easily crushed the Mamluks, the brutal rulers of the Egyptian people. During the French Army's stay, Napoleon brutally and forcefully tried to rule over the Egyptians, and the Egyptians rebelled.
Long story short, the Egyptians kept resisting, slowly wearing down the French until it became too costly in men and money to stay there, and they left in 1801.
After World War I, the Ottomans were thrown off of the Middle East, and Britain and France came in to cut up the Middle East for trade purposes, called the Sykes-Picot agreement. This was a secret agreement that showed that they had no intentions of letting the Arabs rule themselves. In the Sykes-Picot agreement, they declared that Palestine was to be home to the Jewish people.
They put in King Faisal as the leader of Syria, but when agreements about the French mandate over Syria increased tensions, the French Army came in, exiled Faisal, and started marching on the rest of Syria. The Syrians resisted and it took 3 years before the French Army gained control of Syria in 1923. In 1925, the Syrians rebelled again. Through constant declarations of independence, they were finally independent in 1944.
I chose only 2 examples, because it was getting long, and there are many more. The fact is that the region has a history of constant resistance until the invader leaves.
American business taxes have so many loopholes, that they are pretty low.
The surge was a horrendous failure, and commanders in Iraq are saying that the Taliban have to be part of a diplomatic solution, meaning that we have to work with them rather than against them.
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